After about an hour the two older boys stopped wrestling and went and greeted their mother.
Her eldest son, Andreas, gave her a kiss on the cheek as he was far to old for hugs. At least he thought so anyways. Edith chuckled and kissed his cheek back as her 8 year old son, Owen, hugged and kissed her in greeting. He didn't understand why his big brother didn't hug their mother anymore as he didn't think you could ever be to old for a hug from your mama.
Edith smiled as Marigold walked over with her baby sister in her arms and the twins at her heels. Marigold was becoming quite the beautiful young lady and she was such a good girl that Edith could never regret taking her to live with her.
Marigold put the baby in her mother's arms before hugging her.
Edith hugged her back and smiled at the children. "Children I have some exciting news for you all." she said masking her actual displeasure. "This evening we are all going to London to have dinner with my family." she said much to the children's delight.
Marigold looked wide eyed at her mother. "Really mam?" she asked.
Edith nodded. "Yes Mari love we are all going to meet them."
Marigold grinned. She had heard stories of her mother's family and had always wanted to meet them. But she knew it was a sore issue with her mother and never dared to press the issue.
Andreas looked to his father for an idea of how to react to the news. The smile on his father's face made him grin at his mother. "That sounds fun mam!" he exclaimed his brown eyes twinkling with excitement.
Edith smiled at her young son before instructing Marigold and Andreas to help bathe and dress the younger children.
An hour and a half and 7 clean children later Edith and Ellis took their brood to London.
On the way there Catrin and Crystin, the five year old twin girls, found some nice looking muddy puddles and took turns jumping in them. Each time one of their parents or siblings would get them out of the puddles they would simply giggle and go right back to getting messy. Finally after handing Henri to Owen, Ellis picked each twin up one in each arm.
The rest of the trip was rather uneventful and After what felt like ages the family arrived at Grantham House.
The children looked in awe at the large house as they had never seen anything quite like it.
Edith bit her lip at the messy twins unsure what to do about their dresses and shoes. But before she could do anything about it the door opened to show an aged Carson.
Carson looked at the large family in shock then amusement. Lady Rosamund had told the staff that Lady Edith and her family would arrive before 6 but hadn't told the family. But Carson was glad to see Lady Edith back and looking relatively happy.
Edith gave the old butler a strained smile. She wasn't sure how to address him anymore or if he knew they were coming. "Hello Carson. Has my aunt told you I was coming?" she asked.
Carson gave a simple nod. "Lady Rosamund told the staff of your arrival. If you will come right this way." he said leading them through the front door and into the library where two little girls played snakes and ladders.
Edith instructed her family to sit on the couches and chairs.
The two little girls looked up at the newcomers and grinned at the many kids. They hardly had any playmates besides George and hoped these kids could play with them.
The girls walked over to Edith and Ellis and stuck out their hands. "I'm Luella Blake and this is my sister Violet." the taller of the two said.
Edith smiled at the girls. "I'm Edith and this is my husband Ellis and our children." she said to the Mary look-a-like.
Luella gasped. "You're Aunt Edith?! Mummy said you left forevers ago!" she exclaimed.
Edith smiled sadly. "I did leave. And I'm sorry I never visited Luella." she said. "How old are you two?" she asked them.
Luella grinned. "I'm 5 and Violet is 4." she said importantly.
Edith hid the chuckle at the way Luella spoke. It reminded her very much of Mary when they were children. "Well Luella and Violet my twins are 5 years old too. Catrin, Crystin come meet your cousins." she said to the two muddy girls.
Catrin grinned and pulled her twin over to their newly found cousins. "I'm Catrin." she said.
"And I'm Crystin." said her identical twin.
Violet looked shocked at the two girls. They looked exactly alike! They were even dressed the same! She had never meet two people who looked exactly alike before.
Luella smiled at her two new cousins. "Can you play snakes and ladders?" she asked them.
The twins frowned and shook their heads. "No but could you teach us?" they asked as one.
Luella grinned and led the two girls and her sister to the board to play.
Edith watched the girls with a smile. She was glad they had taught the children English as well as Welsh so they could play with their cousins.
As Edith watched the girls her parents walked into the library.
Cora took one look at her daughter with a baby girl in her lap and chocked on a sob. "Edith?" she asked quietly.
Edith looked up and smiled as she stood up. "Yes mama." she said and put Gwenyth on the couch beside Owen and Ellis. She walked over to her teary eyed mother and shell shocked father. "I'm back mama. Papa." she said.
Cora quickly grabbed into her daughter and held her tightly. "Oh Edith! I've missed you so much!" she cried.
Edith held onto her mother just as tightly as she began to cry.
Robert didn't know what to say. But he couldn't stand to lose his daughter again. He looked over at the couches and looked at the man that could only be Edith's husband or beau.
Ellis picked Henri up and walked over to his wife and in-laws. He stuck his free hand out to Robert. "Hello sir. I'm Ellis Maddox. Edith's husband." he said. He lifted Henri up a bit more for Robert to see him. "And this is our youngest son Henri." he said smiling fondly at the little blonde haired boy in his arms.
Robert shook the other man's hand and looked at his little grandson with a smiled. "Hello there little guy." he said.
Henri gave him a toothy smile and Robert chuckled.
After Cora let go of her daughter she turned to Ellis and smiled at the little boy. "He's beautiful Edith. Why didn't you tell us you got married? We would've come to the wedding." she said looking at her daughter for an explanation.
Edith sighed. "Can we not talk about all of that right now?" she asked. "Aunt Rosamund found me at the office and invited us here." she said.
Cora sighed but nodded. "Fine but we will talk about this. And this time you will not run away." she said. "Now introduce us to your family." she said looking around at the children.
Edith rolled her eyes then smiled. "My kids come here." she called. The 6 kids walked over to their parents and grandparents. Although Owen held the baby.
Edith smiled gesturing at the oldest. "This is Marigold Gregson-Maddox. She's 11 years old." she said smiling as her red headed daughter smiled and gave a small curtsey towards her parents. They looked like royalty to the young girl and she knew one had to curtsey to royalty.
Edith then pointed to her blonde son. "This is Andreas Maddox. He's nearly 10 years old." she said as her son copied his sister and gave a bow.
Edith chuckled and pointed to Owen as he held his baby sister. "This is Owen. He's 8 years old and his sister Gwenyth who is 1." Owen simply grinned his cheekiest while his sister sucked her thumb and grinned.
Edith then looked down at her twin girls. "These two muddy girls are Catrin and Crystin. They are 5 year old twins. You must watch out for these two especially when Owen joins them." she said as the girls waved at their grandparents.
Edith then smoothed down her youngest son's blonde curls. "And this is Henri. He's 4 years old." she said. Henri simply grinned as he cuddled against his father.
Cora grinned at each of her grandchildren in turn. She felt like crying as she met each of her grandchildren. She smiled with tears in her eyes at her daughter. "Oh Edith! You have a beautiful family." she gushed.
Robert smiled at the children then looked sternly at her daughter. "Where have you been? Why did you leave? Tell us everything." he said.
Edith sighed. "I will papa."
Just then Carson entered the room and nodded towards Robert.
Robert nodded back. "You can tell us after dinner. Come along everyone." he said before leading his family to the dinning room.
(This is AU from the point where Cora and Rosamund went to London to retrieve Edith and Marigold. All recognizable characters, places, and events belong to Julienne Fellows. Please Read and Review! I will update once a week!)